英国新闻听力 印度总理带头过国际瑜伽日（在线收听）

As part of International Yoga Day on Tuesday, large group sessions took place around the world in some iconic locations such as Time Square in New York and the Sydney Opera House. Thousands of yogis joined the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for some early morning stretches. Mr. Modi has been the driving force behind what is now an annual event trying to encourage others to take up this ancient Indian discipline. One person taking up the challenge is my colleague James who found out about the benefits.

You start by looking at the physical benefits of it, but even before you realize, it works on everything. It works on your mind; it works on your soul. And…

I mean you seem like quite a sort of positive energetic person so…

You know, and it’s funny. I mean… You… People listening to this might find this funny, but whenever I am traveling, when I’m sitting in tubes, I’m on the train or I’m walking, I’m just smiling. And you’re just always happy. You can’t see anything negative around you. So that’s the benefit of doing yoga.

That sounds good. Right. So give us a few sort of hints. I mean we are in the worst place to be doing yoga because we are in a small glass box here. We can’t sort of stretch out. But, but just show us some typical moves that people might be able to do or might start thinking about cuz breathing is very important, isn’t it?

It is, it is. That’s what yoga is about. Like I earlier said that yoga, everyone knows yoga, but we are just not aware about it, because yoga is just about inhaling and exhaling. And that’s what we do. We breath, right? So yeah, while you are at your desk, it’s really simple.

So there are things I could do.

Of course. Everyone. Everyone. And I’d say you must do a few stretches. So just sit straight and hands on your knees. Then just calm your mind. Close your eyes. And then just inhale and exhale. And really just feel the breath going up and down. So when you inhale, you’ll just expand. And you feel that. And that’s what brings like calmness to your mind. So that’s what you start with. 

Ok. And then what sort of stretches could I start doing? For example, I mean, I’m feeling I had quite a long day today, and I am feeling a bit of tension in my shoulders. Yeah. Yes, just stretch your arms above your head and just keep stretching. You should do this. And then you stretched the right side; you stretched then left side. So and then pushing my arms which are locked with the fingers over to each… Oh my goodness, it’s actually hurting. And the back has to be straight. So yeah… Ok. That’s quite important, is it? And then you interlock your fingers behind your back. Right. So you look up. And just stretch and… So I can feel that in my shoulder blades. You can yeah? Because I’m just pulling my arms as far back as they’ll go.

周二是国际瑜伽日，大型团体活动在世界各地的一些标志性地点举行，例如纽约时代广场和悉尼歌剧院。数千名瑜伽修行者和印度总理纳伦德拉?莫迪一起做清早拉伸。莫迪先生一直是这一年一度活动的背后驱动力，鼓励大家学习这门古印度学科。我的同事詹姆斯迎接了这个挑战，从而发现其中的好处。

刚开始你会关注它的身体效益，但在你意识到之前，它的各种效果就显现出来了，它影响你的思维，影响你的灵魂。而且……

你看起来是那种积极向上、充满活力的人，所以……

说来好笑，大家听我说这个可能会觉得滑稽，但就是每次出行，坐地铁、坐火车或走路的时候，我都在微笑。就是时时刻刻都很开心，看不到周围的任何负面东西，这就是做瑜伽的一个好处。

听起来不错哎。好吧，那你给我们点儿提示吧。我们现在一个小玻璃箱子里，最不适合做瑜伽了，因为伸展不开。但你可以教我们一些典型的动作，大家都能做的或者会想去做的。呼吸很重要，不是吗？

是的，是的。它是瑜伽的精髓。就像我先前说的，大家都知道瑜伽，但就是不了解瑜伽。做瑜伽，吸气和呼气很重要。我们时刻都在这么做，都在呼吸，对吧？你在桌子旁边坐的时候就可以练习，非常简单。

那就是说我还是可以做一些动作的。

当然，每个人都可以做。我建议你做一些拉伸动作。坐直了，双手放在膝盖上，然后平静思绪，闭上眼睛，吸气，呼气。用心感受你的呼吸上升、下沉，这会给你带来精神上的平静。你可以开始这么练。

好的。那么刚开始我可以作一些什么样的拉伸呢？比方说，我觉得自己累了一天了，肩膀有些紧。对。好，伸开双臂置于头顶，保持拉伸状态。你应该这么做。然后右侧拉伸，左侧拉伸。好，然后双手交叉，拉伸胳膊……天哪，很疼的。你的背得挺直，对…… 好嘞。这很重要，对吧？然后呢手指交叉置于背后。好。抬头看，然后拉伸…… 我的肩胛骨能感受到。对吧？因为我一直在尽力把胳膊往后拉伸。